"An associate at a major, national firm" wrote recently
with this lament:
"Lately, I really have been plagued by how
law firms are managed: I see the inefficiencies
and how employees are treated (both at my firm and
at other firms), and I can’t help but conclude that
the Ponzi scheme of partnership and current business
practices will come crashing down."
None of this is exactly unheard-of, nor is his itemized
bill of particulars including incessant pressure
to increase billable hours, having to start projects
over from scratch because of a lack of forethought at
more senior levels, partners behaving obnoxiously, or
an "us vs. them" mentality between associates and partners.
But what distinguishes this particular chap is that
he actually went out and did some research in the management
literature and came up with a book I’m about to commend
to all of you responsible for managing people (at any
level) in your firm:
The three co-authors comprise the
founder and Chairman Emeritus of Sirota Consulting,
a firm specializing in attitude research and organizational
effectiveness, a Senior VP, and their Managing Director
and General Counsel; they bring nearly 80 years of
combined experience in the field of employee motivation
to the book.
But the book is far more than their opinions,
however well-informed they might be. Rather,
they "back up their findings with three decades of
research reaching out to over 2.5 million employees
in 237 private, public and not-for-profit organizations
located in 89 countries." As one reviewer
put it, this leads to an analysis that is "sound if
at times a bit overwhelming."
Richard Parsons, Chairman and CEO of
Time Warner, said this about it: “If
you’re looking for proven ways of increasing company
performance . . . this book is for you. I recommend
it enthusiastically.”
So what’s it about? As the dust
jacket summarizes it (emphasis original):
"Enthusiastic employees far out-produce and
outperform the average workforce: they step up to do
the hard, even ‘impossible’ jobs. They’ll rally each
others’ spirits in even the toughest times. Most people
are enthusiastic when they’re hired — hopeful, ready
to work hard, eager to contribute. What happens? Management,
that’s what."
The guiding
principle is that enthusiastic, engaged, committed
employees are enormously more productive than those
who are merely going through the motions or, worse,
who are hostile and resentful. This may
seem common sense—as it should—but we know
how often it’s honored in the breach.
The authors posit that three factors
"characterize what the overwhelming majority of workers
want:" Equity, achievement, and camaraderie.
"Equity" essentially means being given
a fair shake in terms of compensation and job security,
being treated respectfully, and being treated fairly
vis-a-vis one’s peers.
"Achievement" means being able to take
pride in one’s accomplishments by doing things that
matter and doing them well. Interestingly, they
distinguish between the "turn-on" that comes from genuine
achievement, and the lesser (and in some ways, dubious)
state of being "happy." (Not incidentally,
David Maister makes
this same distinction.)
"Camaraderie" involves have warm, interesting,
and cooperative relations with your colleagues in the
workplace—including, importantly, your superiors.
I’ve often noted that human beings have
evolved with an exquisitely tuned sensitivity to inequity
and unfairness, and nothing will destroy the motivation
of of an enthusiastic employee to go above and beyond
the job requirements faster than a whiff of injustice. Injustice
breeds anger and resentment which, however irrational
the response may be, motivate the aggrieved employee
to all sorts of dysfunctional behavior including slacking
off and treating colleagues and clients disdainfully.
And how much does it cost you, again,
to lose an associate?
One reviewer went so far as to elevate
it to the true pantheon of managerial literature: "I
believe that this book is a useful addition to other
research into high-performance organizations, such
as Tom Peters & Robert Waterman (In Search of Excellence,
1982), Jim Collins & Jerry Porras (Built to Last,
1994), Jim Collins (Good to Great, 2001)."
While
I’m not prepared to go that far, I do recommend you
buy yourself a copy, look it through, and then decide
whether every leader in the firm needs one of his
or her own.
